Safeway Scanning Drivers' Licenses

[bodegahead]

I really like G&G. Although it is a ways off my normal line of travel, I try and shop there when I am in the area and have the time. G&G would be my market of choice if I lived closer.



I had no idea that G&G was a local, family owned operation. I am strongly inclined to buy there from now on. My problem is that I live just outside east Santa Rosa and I have to travel to the other side of the city to get to G&G.

G&G should advertise the fact that they are a local, family owned business. They would get a lot more support from Sonomans that way, especially in light of what Safeway is doing.

[edie]

I really like G&G. Although it is a ways off my normal line of travel, I try and shop there when I am in the area and have the time. G&G would be my market of choice if I lived closer.

I don't live close by but love G&G- good to check the expiration date on all products, specially on meats... G&G is good on returning products.

[ChristineL]

Thank the store I boycott for the drop in pay-scale. People flock to "save money, live better" at WalMart not realizing that we have them to thank for the drops in an entire industry's pay scale and benefits. Buy less and patronize the stores that pay decently. Cost-co and G&G pay well, I have friends who work in both. I've been told by employees that Trader Joes is good place to work...

Even Macy's pays their clerks less than they did in the 80's...and the cost of living has sky-rocketed since then.




I left the industry in 1990. At that time I was paying checkers around $14.00 per hour. ...

[Valley Oak]

Thanks, Miles.

I agree on everything you've posted. And thanks for the advice on Oliver's. We already shop there and prefer it to Safeway, which is closer to us.

Thanks for the reading reference. I'll get to it if I have the time.

The location where we live is kind of tough for conveniently accessing a variety of shopping alternatives. After reading this thread I really wish I had a G&G close by as well as some of those other juicy places you mentioned, which you enjoy shopping at in the country of Sebastopol.

Edward



Edward/VO,

When I lived in Rincon Valley for four years, '00-'04, I shopped at Oliver's on Montecito. Their prices aren't as low as G&G, but they were more convenient to me, have a great selection, great service and a friendly staff. They're "local" in that I think there are three Oliver's Markets? (West Santa Rosa at 12 and Fulton, the newest, Cotati/Rohnert Park, and the Rincon Valley one.) I don't know about wages, unionisation and working conditions at Oliver's Markets. If G&G has significantly improved their selection, and I lived in west Santa Rosa, I might shop there. I've also been impressed by the prices and selection at Rosa's Markets, my favorite taqueria is in the one on Petaluma Hills Road.

But I find my tastes for top quality, preferably organic and highly varied foodstuffs, plus access to imports from various ethnic cultures, send me to Pacific Market (Sebasto, where I shopped my first five years living here, just down the road from my dad and brother's place) for the selection and variety, certainly not the prices, and Speers, since it's just up River Road on Mirabel from me, for the basics.

My point in going into all this detail, aside from recommending Oliver's to you, (perhaps you already shop there?) is to illustrate that where we shop is a combination of convenience, price, quality, staff attitude, worker's rights, environmental awareness and personal taste, just to name a few categories of concern, I'm sure there're a couple more I've spaced.

On other threads I've emphasized why I won't shop at Whole Foods; greenwashing, corporate arrogance, excessive pricing, union-busting and the overall creepy feeling of being conned by an operation that on the surface claims to be one thing, but after even a little examination turns out to be the opposite.

Safeway is a big corporation with everything the oil based corporate agriculture and other food industies can supply. I'd still go there if I needed something after everywhere else is closed. That doesn't really happen in my life. I used to give them credit for negotiating with their employees union, but I suppose with the results of decades of down-sizing they've gotten a free hand to squeeze the workers for everything they can wring out of them. Same as it ever was...

Perhaps Pacific, Oliver's, G&G, FoodMax (did they close down? I think I recall that) do the same thing but put a happier face on it, at least Pacific and Oliver's do.

If I were shopping for a bigger group than myself, and did most of my own cooking, which I don't, yet, my 75% pay cut hasn't hit home, yet...) I would probably shop at Costco!


I hope the ID scanning bites the dust. Whether the data is retained and shared with the forces of order, or not, it's a bad precedent that should be nipped in the bud.

There was a pretty good interview on Slate.com last month, with the author of a book about John Poindexter and the other architects of TIA (Total Information Awareness) under Bush I.

For students of our national and international surveillance culture, it's worth a read. Not so much for any new factual information about the technology and politics, but for an insight into the personalities and power struggles behind all that.

Debating The Watchers: The Rise of America's Surveillance State (https://www.slate.com/id/2244908/entry/2244909/)

In Forestville

["Mad" Miles]

!

Sebastopol Nation?

Spiritual Republic of Sebastopol?

Shangrila West?

Paradise on a Crossroad?

I met a young man from England a few weeks ago, in Berkeley at my friends. His first time in the states and he was staying at organic farms, CSA's, around the country, exchanging labor for room and, I think, board. Some international association of which he's a member. A good way to travel cheap.

When I mentioned where I lived, and dropped Sebastopol and West Sonoma County as names, he said, "Oh Yeah, a lot of yogis and Medical Marijuana growers, right?"

Hilarious!

I could go on and on, but here, I won't.

[n4rky]

My math may be rusty but here goes. 1 bedroom places or studios rent for $1500 a month on the average. That would be 22 days of 8 hours a day. 5 and a half days a week.
So, to pay for taxes, social security, disability, utilities, food, health care, transportation, etc would require the person to work the other 8 days left in the month.
Or, maybe they can walk to the homeless shelter out by the Humane Society after work.
Peggy

In my experience, a minimum living wage in the San Francisco Bay Area is pretty much $50,000 per year. Working from a $1500 monthly housing cost and the old rule that housing should cost no more than a third of one's income yields a required income of $54,000 per year.

[jbox]

My math may be rusty but here goes.
1 bedroom places or studios rent for $1500 a month on the average. That would be 22 days of 8 hours a day. 5 and a half days a week.
So, to pay for taxes, social security, disability, utilities, food, health care, transportation, etc would require the person to work the other 8 days left in the month.
Or, maybe they can walk to the homeless shelter out by the Humane Society after work.
Peggy
Wow! It pays to live in west county. I have a 2 bedroom apt. for rent at $925. Any takers?

[Claire]

Yes I thought that assessment was high for a one bedroom. And I am in the rental loop. I could just picture some landlords/ladies thinking, hmmm...

[Andy3]

Yes I thought that assessment was high for a one bedroom. And I am in the rental loop. I could just picture some landlords/ladies thinking, hmmm...

We rent a 600 sq ft flat near Sebastopol for $600.00 per month. The rent includes water, sewer, electricity, Comcast TV and a wifi connection to broadband internet. There are many options available for singles or couples in a price range well below $1500.00.

A clerks pay would make it a struggle to raise a family on a single income but would be great as a second income or as support for a family without children. The healthcare benefits are worth a lot on their own.